Strict control of both particulate contaminants and chemical contaminants inside a sensitive electronic device such as a data storage system is of increasing importance for the proper operation of the device, particularly as some internal components become ever smaller and more sensitive. For example, in a disc drive, as read/write head and transducer size, media magnetic or optical bit size, and head flying height all continue to decrease, the importance of eliminating particulate and chemical contaminants continues to grow.
Particulate contaminants may include particles that are dislodged from components within such a storage device from improper handling or during drive operations. Such particulate contaminants may proceed to scratch a media surface or a read/write head, or embed itself into a media surface, for instance, leading to serious or catastrophic failures and/or irrecoverable data losses. Chemical contaminants are also a substantial threat in the interior of a data storage system. Chemical contaminants such as organic vapors or corrosive gases may infiltrate the data storage system from the external environment or may outgas from internal components. Such chemical contaminants may smear or corrode media surfaces or read/write heads, resulting in data losses, high interface stiction, and/or the overall failure of the data storage system.
To address difficulties such as these, some data storage systems have been made with both a recirculation filter for adsorbing particulate contaminants, and a chemical filter for adsorbing chemical contaminants, out of the internal environment of the data storage system. One illustrative example of a recirculation filter includes tightly packed fibers of a polymer such as polyamide or polyester, while an illustrative example of a chemical filter includes grains or powders of activated carbon.
Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.